Between the Lanterns (17 page)

“It’s settled, then,” August said, slapping his knees and standing up. “I’ll call up Joshua Stevens tomorrow and offer to sell him the SameSoul. Of course, I’ll have to tell him about it first. Montek don’t know anythin’ about it, but I guarantee they’ll want it once they know about it.”

“Oh, sweets I’m so happy I could spit!” Sam said. “This is the best idea you’ve ever had. I’m going to the bedroom to start weeding through my old clothes and throwing out everything I don’t need anymore. Our lives are going to have to fit into suitcases now!”

August planted a kiss on Samantha’s forehead before she walked back out of the workshop and told her, “I’ll be out in a bit to do the same, babe. I just wanna finish this little hunk of junk I’m workin’ on.”

Five minutes later one of their cellphones rang.

“Hello?”

“Patient Lurie? This is Dr. Granger. I’m calling in regard to your follow-up blood work and scans. You signed a form that gave me consent to contact you by phone, so I decided to go ahead and do this over the phone rather than set up an appointment.”

Patient Lurie was dead silent, hoping for good news but fearing the worst, as that’s what life had taught them to expect recently.

“Well, the good news is that the cure worked, and your stomach cancer is completely gone,” the doctor explained, “with all of the internal damage having been fully healed by the second set of meds I prescribed.”

Patient Lurie exhaled a sigh of utter and total relief. It had worked. Everything was better, and there was nothing to fear anymore. Thank God.

“There is some bad news, I’m afraid,” Dr. Granger added, not sounding as if the news was awful. “You see, Patient Lurie, after this was cleared up and we checked your blood work and scans again, we noticed a different anomaly. Tracing it back through your proteins, we found something else.”

“What?” Patient Lurie asked with a dry rasp.

There was a long pause on the line, and Patient Lurie could only wait in dreaded silence for the answer that felt certain to be only one thing.
 

But no, it couldn’t be that bad. Things were going so well for the Lurie family. It couldn’t be that. Not a chance.

“Patient Lurie,” the doctor said over the line, “your Countdown has begun. You have five days.”

Chapter 18

DAY ONE

The decision whether or not to tell your spouse that you are going to die in the next five days seems like an easy one. You can’t just keep it secret from them. That would be terrible, wouldn’t it?

Or would it be kinder to keep them in the dark? Would you rather spend your last five days crying and feeling sorry for yourself, or would you rather spend your them planning for a trip around the world? That way, your spouse could still go on the journey without you to get away from all of the bad memories in this house.

It seemed like the better option, and so that is exactly what Patient Lurie decided to do. Keep it secret, and go ahead with the planning. It would not be easy either way at the end of the five days, but it seemed like this way, at least, their last five days together would be pleasant.

-

“Mr. Stevens?” August said.

There was a momentary pause on the other end, and a deep inhalation of breath before Joshua said, “Mr. Lurie! I can’t believe you’re calling! Have you changed your mind about your automaton? I promise you that you won’t regret it. You’ll be rich beyond your wildest dreams.”

Once again, August wondered if he was making the right decision to sell his invention to this global network of crooks and monsters. He had sounded so confident when talking to Samantha about this in his workshop, but that was more to put her mind at ease. Inside, he still felt guilty about the thought of taking Credit and living like a king while Montek took his hard work and put their dirty signature all over it.
 

“No, Mr. Stevens,” August said, trying to hide his disgust. “I will not be sellin’ you Woodrow. I’ve told you that won’t happen.”

Joshua Stevens’s voice went from happy to irritated in an instant, as he heaved an enormous sigh and grunted in reply, “Then why have you tied up my line and wasted my time, Mr. Lurie? I have a business to run.”

“You mean stealin’ other people’s ideas and passin’ them off as Montek’s original inventions?” August let slip, immediately regretting the words, as he was trying to get Mr. Stevens on his side temporarily.

“Mr. Lurie, go fu…”

Before Mr. Stevens could finish that thought, August interrupted and said, “I’m sorry that was rude of me, Mr. Stevens. I do have somethin’ to discuss with you. Somethin’ that I think you’ll be very interested in. I know it’s somethin’ that Montek would love to get a hold of.”

Joshua’s attitude changed to positive once more as he replied, “Well, now. I am interested. I’ll be at your shop tonight. Will 7 pm work for you?”

“Mr. Stevens,” August said, sounding confused, “don’t you even want to hear about it? You have no clue what it is I am tryin’ to sell you.”

“Look, August,” Mr. Stevens said, “I won’t bullshit you. If it’s something you came up with, then I am going to want it. And if I want it, Montek wants it. I’ll see you at 7:00.”

Joshua disconnected the call without another word.

Samantha snuck up behind her husband who was standing in between the lanterns just staring at his cellphone in a confused silence. She had overheard a little of his side of the conversation and knew that he had been talking to that thief Joshua Stevens. It bothered her that they had to deal with him. It bothered her that they were going to deal with Montek at all. But it was for the best. The Credit Montek would pay for the SameSoul would cover any expense the Lurie family ever had for the rest of their lives.

She put her arms around August’s waist and whispered in his ear, “Sweets, I was just getting rid of some old clothes, and I found some pretty sexy underwear. I need your help to decide whether to keep it or not.”

August had not heard his wife walk in and jumped at her touch. Once he recovered and turned around, he had to do a double take… giving Samantha a once-over from top to bottom, taking in every inch of her body. To his surprise, she was not wearing any sexy underwear for him to look at.

“Uh… what sexy underwear, babe?” he asked, his mouth going dry and his pulse quickening. “You’re nekkid as a jay bird.”

“Oops. Whatever shall we do now?” she pushing her body against August.

Her husband ran his calloused hands up and down her silky smooth skin. The juxtaposition of his rough, dark complexion against her soft, tanned skin always made him smile. He smelled her long, black hair, and the aroma combined with the touch of her naked body made him instantly hard. In between the lanterns, he looked at his wife and smiled.

“I have a few ideas,” he told her, “but you’re gonna have to sign a waiver.”

Samantha pushed back from him with a crooked grin on her face, and feigning shock, said, “A waiver, sweets? Whatever for?”

August spun her around and pushed her towards the dinner table in a rush, and answered, “I can’t be held responsible for how quickly this will be over. You’re butt nekkid and sexier than anyone has any right to be. I just don’t want you gettin’ all angry at me for finishin’ before you do.”

Samantha put her hand under his shirt and ran her fingernails up and down his back. August groaned and pulled her tighter to him.
 

She grabbed his face in both of her hands, and in a stern voice said, “I’ll sign yours, as long as you sign mine, which states you must use any means necessary to make amends, sweets.”

At that, August picked her up, placed her on the table, and stripped naked as fast as he could. Samantha put her feet on top of the table, making it easy for him. She bit at his lip as he worked. August braced himself on the table’s edge with his hands, pushed with his feet for strength, using his hips for the intricate movements. Back and forth. Over and over.
 

After a while, Samantha realized that her husband had lied to her, as she finished long before he did. August was untiring, more so than he had been in a long time. More so than her husband had ever been, if truth be told.
 

Samantha came again and shrieked in triumph. She grabbed onto her husband and urged him to go faster and harder, wanting him to feel that same moment of pure joy. He finally did, and then fell onto his wife. Sam held him, both of them gasping for air and smiling as they tried to move, but couldn’t. Eventually, August pushed himself up just enough to kiss the love of his life. She held onto his face while they shared each other’s oxygen. It lasted for as long as either could stand before they broke apart. The lanterns hovered in the air, slowly changing from warm to cool colors. They rotated around the table, creating a calming effect.

August had tears in his eyes as they pulled apart. Samantha did, too.

“Sweets, why are you crying?” she whispered.

August wiped at his tears, feeling a little embarrassed and said, “Me? Why are you cryin’?”

Samantha smiled and rubbed her hand down his chest, wiping at the sweat dripping down his torso.

“Because I love you so damn much that it hurts,” she told him. “And I just came twice… That don’t happen to a shy Southern lady like myself every day, you know?”

August wiped at the sweat running down the back of his head and looked away.

“Shy, my ass,” he replied. “But, I love you so much it hurts, too, babe.,” hHe paused, fighting back more tears before going on., “I was also thinkin’ that I’m gonna miss this place. That was one of the last times we’re ever gonna have sex in this house.”

Samantha laughed. “Sweets, if you promise it’ll be like that every time, we can fuck five times a day before we leave.”

August’s eyes went wide with shock, and he gasped, “Such language from a shy country girl! And I can’t make any promises about it always bein’ that great. I’m only a man, not a machine.”

“Well, maybe I’ll talk to Woodrow about it, then, sweets,” she said in a husky voice and winked at her man slyly.
 

His eyes shot open even further as he said, “You ain’t gonna be gettin’ freaky with Woodrow, woman. I won’t have you defilin’ our robot.”

At that moment, having heard his name called twice, Woodrow marched into the kitchen and found them both naked and lying together on the table.

“WOOD ROW CLEAN?” it said.

They both burst into laughter while Woodrow waited patiently for an answer.

“No, Woodrow, sweets,” Samantha replied in between guffaws. “You don’t have to clean. Go back into the living room and enter power down mode, please and thank you.”

Woodrow trundled out of the room, making a noise like a baby playing with wooden blocks. Samantha watched him go and remembered why August had made her original small, wooden sculpture into an automaton. It was because she so despised the big metallic and soulless Montek.Automatons that were just becoming popular at the time. Now they were just about everywhere, and functioning on tech that her husband had designed. Strange how time messes with your life like that.

Montek had, for lack of a better word, stolen the original Woodrow. Then later, she and August built a larger, full-size wooden automaton. The new Woodrow was a vital part of their lives. He assisted August run the shop, cleaned the whole house, did lots of chores, helped do the shopping, and was even learning to be a sous-chef of sorts, and… well, was just always around. She couldn’t imagine their lives without Woodrow.

In a way, he was just wood and string. He walked and talked, but didn’t mean anything. On the other hand, he was more advanced in many ways than the current Montek.Automaton models, which was why Montek wanted to get their hands on him so badly. The upper management at Montek must have realized they burnt a crucial bridge when they fired August over the factory accident. Now Montek needed to reverse-engineer this odd, wooden robot to make improvements on their line of automatons, b. Because improvements often meant new models, and new models always meant more Credit. But the Luries would never sell Woodrow, no matter what happened to them, she thought.

August watched Woodrow leave and felt a tinge of sadness because he loved that clunky, wooden oddity. He had built the original Woodrow out of a wooden sculpture his wife had made for him, but once Montek stole it, he and Samantha had created this new one together. Woodrow was vital to their everyday lives, and a symbol of their feelings about Montek and the modern world. He would never sell Woodrow to Montek. Even though what was coming would change everything. It didn’t matter. They’d never have him.

“Woodrow should go on the journey, too. He’s earned it, sweets,” Samantha blurted out.

August had just come to the same realization as his wife. It wouldn’t be that hard to arrange the transport of an automaton for human companionship. People did it all the time with Montek.Automatons. Why not with Woodrow? It was a great idea. August had made his mind up. Tickets would be booked for Woodrow as well.

“Absolutely, Sam,” he said. “He does deserve to come along. He can help carry all your bags.”

August winked at Samantha, this time. As they were still naked and on the table, she didn’t have many ways to retaliate, so she lightly slapped his butt.

“No, he can carry your bags, sweets,” she replied.

August looked away, in the direction that Woodrow had gone, shrugged his shoulders, and replied, “He’ll be a big help.”

Chapter 19

BELIEVE IT

Joshua Stevens arrived precisely at 7 pm, pulling up to Sweets, Inc. in Montek.Drive’s newest model AutoCar. It was worth more Credit than some of the houses back on August’s street. Mr. Stevens strode into the shop with a shit-eating grin on his clean-shaven face.

“Ok, Mr. Lurie,” he said, rubbing his hands greedily. “Show me what you want us to buy. I have a feeling it’s a game-changer. Am I right?”

August could sense that Mr. Stevens was nervous. He was full of restless energy. Maybe it wasn’t nerves, though. Maybe it was just excitement. Either way, it made August uncomfortable.

“Why do you think it’s gonna be any good at all?” August asked. “How do you know I ain’t just yankin’ your chain, Mr. Stevens?”